Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:55:31.194Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Caring for grandchildren and intergenerational support in rural China: a gendered extended family perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

ZHEN CONG  and
MERRIL SILVERSTEIN
ZHEN CONG*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Box 41230, Lubbock, Texas, 79416, USA.
MERRIL SILVERSTEIN
Affiliation:
Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Zhen Cong, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Box 41230, Lubbock, Texas, 79416, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This investigation examines how support from adult children is affected by their parents' involvement in grandchild care. Instead of focusing on dyadic interactions, we adopt a gendered extended family perspective to examine how financial and emotional support from children was influenced when their siblings received help with child care from their elder parents. The data were from a two-wave (2001, 2003) longitudinal study of 4,791 parent–child dyads with 1,162 parents, aged 60 and older, living in rural areas of Anhui Province, China. Random effects regression showed that emotional support from both sons and daughters was strengthened when parents provided more child care for their other adult children; in addition, daughters were more emotionally responsive than sons under this situation. Concerning dyadic parent–child relationships, daughter and sons increased their financial support, and sons increased their emotional support when they themselves received help with child care from parents. We suggest taking a gendered extended family perspective when studying intergenerational relationships in rural China.

Keywords

caring for grandchildrenemotional supportfinancial supportintergenerational supportrural China
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , April 2012 , pp. 425 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agree, E. M., Biddlecom, A. E. and Valente, T. W. 2005. Intergenerational transfers of resources between older persons and extended kin in Taiwan and the Philippines. Population Studies, 59, 2, 181–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allison, P. D. 2001. Missing Data. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Altonji, J. G., Hayashi, F. and Kotlikoff, L. 2000. The effects of income and wealth on time and money transfers between parents and children. In Mason, A. and Tapinos, G. (eds), The Effects of Income and Wealth on Time and Money Transfers Between Parents and Children. Oxford University Press, New York, 306–45.Google Scholar
Alwin, D. F. 1990. Historical changes in parental orientations to children. In Mandell, N. and Cahill, S. (eds), Sociological Studies of Child Development. Volume 3, JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 65–86.Google Scholar
Bai, N. and Song, H. 2002. Return or Stay: The Return Flow of Out-migrants from Rural China. China Finance and Economy Press, Beijing. (In Chinese).Google Scholar
Becker, G. 1974. A theory of social interactions. Journal of Political Economy, 82, 6, 1063–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, V. L. and Lowerstein, A. (eds) 2003. Global Aging and the Challenge to Families. Walter de Gruyter, New York.Google Scholar
Cai, F. (ed.) 2006. Report on China's Population and Labor: Demographic Transition and its Social and Economic Consequences. Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Chao, P. 1983. Chinese Kinship. Kegan Paul International, Boston, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Chaohu Statistical Bureau 2001. Chaohu Statistical Annals. Chaohu Statistical Bureau, Chaohu, China.Google Scholar
Checkovich, T. J. and Stern, S. 2002. Shared caregiving responsibilities of adult siblings with elderly parents. The Journal of Human Resources, 37, 3, 441–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, F., Short, S. E. and Entwistle, B. 2000. Impact of grandparental proximity on maternal childcare in China. Population Research and Policy Review, 19, 6, 571–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
China Research Center on Aging 2003. Data Analysis of the Sampling of Survey of the Aged Population in China. China Biaozhun Publication, Beijing.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. L. 1998. North China rural families changes during the communist era. Etudes Chinoises, 17, 1/2, 59–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cong, Z. and Silverstein, M. 2008 a. Intergenerational time-for-money exchanges in rural China: does reciprocity reduce depressive symptoms of older grandparents? Research in Human Development, 5, 1, 6–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cong, Z. and Silverstein, M. 2008 b. Intergenerational support and depression among elders in rural China: do daughters-in-law matter? Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 3, 599–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cong, Z. and Silverstein, M. 2010. Which sons live with their older parents in rural China? The role of migration and intergenerational exchanges. Family Sciences, 1, 1, 67–71.Google Scholar
Cong, Z. and Silverstein, M. 2011. Intergenerational exchange between parents and migrant and nonmigrant sons in rural China. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73, 1, 93–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, D. 1987. Motives for private income transfers. Journal of Political Economy, 95, 3, 508–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis-Friedmann, D. 1991. Long Lives: Chinese Elderly and the Communist Revolution. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, M. W., Tuljapurkar, S., Li, S., Jin, X. and Li, N. 2007. Son preference, marriage and intergenerational transfer in rural China. In Gauthier, A. H., Chu, C. Y. C. and Tuljapurkar, S. (eds), Son Preference, Marriage and Intergenerational Transfer in Rural China. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 139–62.Google Scholar
Fingerman, K. L., Hay, E. L. and Birditt, K. S. 2004. The best of ties, the worst of ties: close, problematic, and ambivalent social relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 3, 792–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankenberg, E., Lillard, L. and Willis, R. J. 2002. Patterns of intergenerational transfers in southeast Asia. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 3, 627–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giarrusso, R., Feng, D. and Bengtson, V. 2004. The intergenerational-stake phenomenon over 20 years. In Silverstein, M. and Schaie, K. W. (eds), The Intergenerational-stake Phenomenon Over 20 Years. Springer, New York, 55–76.Google Scholar
Guo, M., Aranda, M. P. and Silverstein, M. 2009. The impact of out-migration on the inter-generational support and psychological wellbeing of older adults in rural China. Ageing & Society, 29, 7, 1085–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermalin, A. I. 2002. Well-being of the Elderly in Asia: A Four-country Comparative Study. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillcoat-Nallétamby, S. and Dharmalingam, A. 2006. Maintaining solidarity across generations in New Zealand: support from mid-life adult to ageing parent. New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 1, 2, 185–202.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. and Baker, W. E. 2000. Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65, 1, 19–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, A. E. and Phillips, D. R. 1999. Ageing in rural China: impacts of increasing diversity in family and community resources. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 14, 2, 153–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Konrad, K. A., KüNemund, H., Lommerud, K. E. and Robledo, J. R. 2002. Geography of the family. American Economic Review, 92, 4, 981–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, G. R., Netzer, J. K. and Coward, R. T. 1994. Filial responsibility expectations and patterns of intergenerational assistance. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 3, 559–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Y. and Xiao, Z. 1998. Children's support for elderly parents in urban and rural China: results from a national survey. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 13, 1, 39–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S., Feldman, M. W. and Jin, X. 2004. Children, marriage form, and family support for the elderly in contemporary rural China: the case of songzi. Research on Aging, 26, 3, 352–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S., Song, L. and Feldman, M. W. 2009. Intergenerational support and subjective health of older people in rural China: a gender-based longitudinal study. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 28, 2, 81–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Q. and Reilly, B. 2004. Income transfers of Chinese rural migrants: some empirical evidence from Jinan. Applied Economics, 36, 12, 1295–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangen, D., Bengtson, V. L. and Landry, P. H. Jr (eds) 1988. The Measurement of Intergenerational Relations. Sage, Beverly Hills, California.Google Scholar
McGarry, K. and Schoeni, R. F. 1995. Transfer behavior in the Health and Retirement Study: measurement and the redistribution of resources within the family. Journal of Human Resources, 30, supplement, s184–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercier, J. M., Shelley, M. C. II and Wall, B. 1997. Quality of adult child–aging parent relationships: a structural equations approach using merged cross-generational data. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 26, 2, 160–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrill, D. M. 2007. Mothers-in-law and Daughters-in-law: Understanding the Relationship and What Makes Them Friends or Foe. Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Pang, L. 2004. Working till you drop: the elderly in rural China. China Journal, 52, 1, 73–94.Google Scholar
Pillemer, K. and Suitor, J. J. 2008. Collective ambivalence: considering new approaches to the complexity of intergenerational relations. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 63, 6, S394–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabe-Hesketh, S. and Skronda, A. 2008. Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata. Stata Press, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Rossi, A. S. and Rossi, P. H. 1990. Of Human Bonding: Parent–Child Relations Across the Life Course. Aldine de Gruyter, New York.Google Scholar
Secondi, G. 1997. Private monetary transfers in rural China: are families altruistic? Journal of Development Studies, 33, 4, 487–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, A. 2004. Revisiting the generation gap: exploring the relationships of parent/adult-child dyads. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 58, 2, 127–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shi, L. 1993. Family financial and household support exchange between generations: a survey of Chinese rural elderly. Gerontologist, 33, 4, 468–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silverstein, M., Cong, Z. and Li, S. 2006. Intergenerational transfers and living arrangements of older people in rural China: consequences for psychological well-being. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 61B, 5, S256–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statacorp 2009. Stata Statistical Software: Release 11. Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
State Council of the People's Republic of China 2000. Statistics of Rural and Nonrural Residents of Each Province. Available online at http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/renkoupucha/2000pucha/html/t0105.htm [accessed 18 January 2010].Google Scholar
Sun, R. 2002. Old age support in contemporary urban China from both parents' and children's perspectives. Research on Aging, 24, 3, 337–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, R. 2004. Worry about medical care, family support, and depression of the elders in urban China. Research on Aging, 26, 5, 559–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sung, K. T. 1998. Exploration of actions of filial piety. Journal of Aging Studies, 12, 4, 369–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Gaalen, R. I., Dykstra, P. A. and Flap, H. 2008. Intergenerational contact beyond the dyad: the role of the sibling network. European Journal of Ageing, 5, 1, 19–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Gaalen, R. I., Dykstra, P. A. and Komter, A. E. 2010. Where is the exit? Intergenerational ambivalence and relationship quality in high contact ties. Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 2, 105–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, R. A. 2008. Multiple parent–adult child relations and well-being in middle and later life. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 63, 4, S239–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White-Means, S. I. 2008. Parent caregiving choices of middle-generation blacks and whites in the United States. Journal of Aging and Health, 20, 5, 560–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whyte, M. K. (eds) 2001. China's Revolutions and Intergenerational Relations. Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Yan, S., Chen, J. and Yang, S. 2003. Living arrangements and old-age support. In Whyte, M. K. (eds), Living Arrangements and Old-age Support. University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 143–66.Google Scholar
Yan, Y. 2003. Private Life Under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, H. 1996. The distributive norm of monetary support to older parents: a study in China. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 2, 404–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. 2005. Bracing for an uncertain future: a case study of new coping strategies or rural parents under China's new birth control policy. The China Journal, 54, 53–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. 2007. China's new rural daughters coming of age: downsizing the family and firing up cash-earning power in the new economy. Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 32, 3, 671–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, W., Li, S. and Silverstein, M. 2005. The effects of inter-generational support on the mortality of older people in rural China. Asian Population Studies, 1, 3, 325–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmer, Z. 2005. Health and living arrangement transitions among China's oldest-old. Research on Aging, 27, 5, 526–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmer, Z. and Kwong, J. 2003. Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China: current effects and future implications. Demography, 40, 1, 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar